Press Statement: Ethiopian women speak out on conflict and peace in the country

 We are a diverse group of women from various parts of Ethiopia who promote women’s rights advancements and sustainable peace and security in our country.

Since women play a significant role in nation building and peace-making processes, we would like to articulate our concerns, present our demands and make recommendations in light of the current worrying situation in the country.  

We reinforce the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and its four pillars:
•Participation: increasing women’s participation and representation at all decision-making levels;
•Prevention: protecting women from physical, psychological, economic and human rights attacks, protecting their safety and dignity;
•Protection: actions to prevent human rights violations against women during conflict, particularly protecting women from sexual and gender-based violence, discrimination, abuse and exploitation, and in these efforts supporting peace initiatives and conflict resolution processes that empower women;
•Relief and recovery: take steps to include the specific needs of women by ensuring their effective and meaningful participation in all stages of the design and implementation of relief and rehabilitation programmes.

The peace talks in Oromia have brought hope for citizens, particularly women. We also celebrate the Pretoria agreement, which has paved the way for relative peace and security. It is proven that initiatives can only be durable with the meaningful participation of women in the different consultation and negotiation tables. 

We are deeply concerned by the crackdown on media, restriction on movement, shrinking of civic space, conflict-related SGBV, attack by armed groups, gross human rights violations, displacements, disappearance, abduction and the proliferation of crimes have been recurring and normalized in recent times. Such challenges increase women’s vulnerability to various physical, emotional, sexual attacks and violations of their fundamental rights.

We urge the following issues to be immediately addressed by the government, non-government bodies, individuals, communities, institutions, as well as other relevant stakeholders. 

1. In the process of establishing the new Sheger City, hundreds of thousands of women-headed houses were demolished by the government. We understand that it is the government’s duty to provide adequate shelter for citizens and impede unlawfulness. But the demolishing of houses has forced women to be homeless. Women are left on the streets stripped of their human dignity, destitute, exposed to various forms of abuse and forced to beg to meet their basic needs. 
2. Religion-based disputes and violence are escalating,  limiting the role women are playing in conflict resolution. Women and their children are being subjected to arbitrary arrests, torture and executions while demanding the freedom to exercise their religions. Women have faced serious psychological and socio-economic distress pleading for the release of their children, which has resulted in further violations of human rights.  
3. Women who were working in Addis Ababa city under tarpaulins or in small tin shops have seen their workplaces demolished by the state. Apart from contributing to job opportunities, these workplaces provided many economically deprived young women and women with disabilities with economic relief helping them endure the multifaceted social burdens they face.
4. Media reports show that in various cities of the country, for example in Adama, Debre Berhan, Alidoro, Gerbe Guracha and other places; citizens are deprived of freedom of movement and exposed to rampant abduction and killings by state and non-state armed forces. We are extremely alarmed that these tragedies are becoming common and are being disregarded by the government, non-governmental bodies and the community at large. This creates a fertile ground for increased sexual violence against women/girls and the accompanying lack of peace and security for women/girls.
5. Oromia has witnessed long-term lack of security, as well as instability, violence perpetrated by various armed forces, killings, assassinations, excessive use of force, inflation, forced disappearance, kidnapping and ransom, and forced sexual slavery. We are deeply concerned that young women, women with disabilities, economically impoverished women, pastoralist and farmer women are particularly subjected to physical, psychological, social and economic rights violations.
6. We are concerned about the increasing lack of peace in the the Southern Nations Nationalities and Region (SNNPR) and the coordinated abductions of women by members of the government. The arbitrary arrest, inhumane and degrading conditions, random killings and, excessive use of force, in Wolayita Zone due to the re-run of the referendum is equally troubling.
7. The lack of peace and security in the Amhara region, the daily use of heavy firearms and gunfire, and hate-speech as a result of the tension between different parties subjects women to a continued state of psychosocial misery. We are also concerned about the increase in the cost of living, increased risk for citizens’ movement, roadblocks, arbitrary arrests, excessive use of force, and the mounting marginalization of women.
8. The war that started in the Tigray region and expanded to the Amhara and Afar regions has displaced millions of citizens; who are still facing multiple forms of suffering. The displaced have been further exposed to suffering and hunger as the result of the recent diversion of food aid that was meant for women and girls and other marginalized groups. Internally displaced women are exposed to repeated and immense levels of anguish as a result of rape, hunger, and now the theft of emergency support.
9. Unidentified militias launching deadly attacks on civilian populations has been normalized in Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz. The ongoing hostility has enabled preexisting gender-based injustices to bloom in unprecedented ways. Women and girls who have come to IDP camps seeking protection have been exposed to sexual abuse by armed groups whilst in the camps.

Therefore, we, as women’s rights advocates and women peace and security agenda practitioners, demand that the government and all relevant actors take immediate action to address the above-mentioned atrocities. We emphasize the need to unpack the relationship between multiple and intersecting identities including gender, religion, ethnicity, class, disability, language, economic level, education level, as factors that lead to conflicting and compounded vulnerabilities. 

Invoking the Constitution, we demand the Government to:

1. Fulfill its obligation,  to provide shelter for citizens, provide urgent rehabilitation measures for displaced women, and prevent further violations of women’s inherent rights.
2. Maintain the secularity of the state and fulfil its responsibility to enable citizens to exercise their rights freely.
3. Ensure that government projects, activities, and initiatives are community-oriented, and designed to alleviate discrimination against women, girls, the young, and persons with disabilities. Per Article 43, these must include projects that enhance the capacity of citizens to meet their basic needs. Facilitate job opportunities especially for unemployed women and women with disabilities whose homes and places of work have been wrecked.
4. Hold fully accountable under criminal penal law all individuals and groups responsible for the abductions of individuals, as well as the demands for ransom, threats, intimidation, and killings.
5. Take immediate measures to prevent sexual violence, displacement, abuse and murder of women, protect women and uphold their right to live in an environment where the rule of law prevails.
6. Exert pressure to ensure that the public decisions made in the SNNPR are completely fair, independent, and democratic and that women play an active role. Ensure women’s participation and decision-making in political matters and their freedom to live a life free from misogynistic social norms and abuse.
7. Work closely with women peace-advocates to ease the tension that is escalating in the Amhara region, out of recognition that women are owners of the process, and that adequate platforms and engagement means should be available for women to access safely.
8. Ensure transparency and accountability in the administration of basic needs of women in the shelter camps in Amhara, Tigray, Afar, Oromia, SNNPR, and other regions, taking care to treat women with dignity, and provide access to psychosocial support as well as medical/legal services for SGBV survivors, referral and reparations, and the means to return to their hometowns immediately.
9. Strengthen the implementation of legal frameworks and prosecute the culprits without making excuses or exceptions, ensuring that the long-standing lack of peace and security in Gambella and Benishangul Gumuz be given the attention it deserves, with a special focus on the social, legal, and economic protection of women and girls.

We conclude by emphasizing that the lack of peace in the country can only be resolved through multisectoral collaborative efforts, fostering advocacy and lobbying, and community-focused dialogues where women take center stage and engage in decision-making roles. Finally, we call on all stakeholders to work together to solve the above-stated and other social, economic and political issues in our country.

Authors: a collective of Ethiopian women who wished to remain anonymous